What I got from the design idea of the rage prophet it is diviner – spirit shaman – mystic, it has a connection to some kind of spiritual force or a guide spirit that grants it visions. Slightly off point this seems like something the normal oracle for the implications with its name. For the rage prophet mechanically problem comes down to the execution of having to multiclass with a slow progression spell caster, you are at the very least giving up 3 spell levels to take the rage prophet class and at most 5 spell levels which is a significant trade off. While other slow spell progression PrC like dragon disciple also has the three dead levels, it does not require the multiclass.
The rage prophet’s core ability spirit guide / spirit guardian / spirit warrior is somewhat lackluster. Spirit Guide gives you access to the guidance orison while raging, and three other orisons (dancing lights, mage hand, and ghost sound) as spell likes once per day. Spirit Guardian gives the guidance orison a little kick once per rage but while only fighting certain types. The ghost touch is useful to a point. Spirit Warrior gives you 9-10 points of damage to one attack once per rage, again to a small set of monsters. The immediate ghost touch is great but again how many ethereal creatures are you going to fight?
The prestige class seems to top out at 7th level with the 2nd ragecaster bonus (cha+con for spell DC). Raging spellstrength is a nice ability but I am not sure it is worth giving up access to 8th level spells for if you went oracle heavy and if you went barbarian heavy you are not even going to have access to worthwhile combat healing at that level.
For the significant tradeoffs for this PrC I am not sure if the rewards are really there. The rage prophet has a character theme to it something that I felt oracle was missing but mechanically it seems underwhelming for either a barbarian giving up your full BaB (and 4th iterative attack) and d12s for some minor spell casting and a good will save or an oracle giving up your 2 full spell school ranks on a for a bonus to your spell DCs, good fort, and d10 hp.
I am curious to hear what other people think of the rage prophet prc, it just seems like from whatever way you enter the prc (barbarian or oracle) you are hindering your core class mechanic for something of not equal return.
At a minimum, the class screams full BAB to me.
ALL the PrCs are significantly gimped, even though they were improved over 3.5. They should not be so weak as to be a non-option, which seems to be the consensus to many around here.
Arcane trickster gets the low BAB and 4 skill points? Hello?
Sadly you only get to raise one DC per rage and you don't get to apply the +2 Con bonus to that DC but I suppose that's fair considering how obscene you could get a DC if you wanted. One thing I originally thought would be cool would be using the (minor) BAB boost from the Barb levels and the Str bonus of raging to be really potent at delivering touch spells. Accurately smacking someone with a very high DC Bestow Curse seems like a good Rage Prophet attack, but due to the way the bonuses (don't) interact it doesn't seem like something you could make an especially good build out of.
I think with feats like Spell Perfection the Prophet could get some serious mileage out of a favored mid-level spell, but unfortunately they're somewhat feat-starved, or perhaps better to say, they have way too many desirable options. I know if I ever build one I'm going to be springing for Extra Rage Power to tap into the Spirit Totem.
I do think 7/10 spell progression and BAB is kind of cruel, especially divine casting with that Sorcerer style level delay. Arcane Archer gets 7/10 casting with full BAB and is still considered weak by many.
For novelty's sake, I have noticed Rage Prophet would make a somewhat godly inclusion in a Gestalt character... but then, in Pathfinder, where I don't think Gestalt rules have been officially mentioned in any sense, a lot of stuff would be broken.
The best thing to do with the Rage Prophet that I can think of is to have an undead rage prophet as the will get the most benefit out of ragecaster (undead use cha for their con and oracle is a cha class). They also can start and end a rage the same turn without any problems.
It is odd though now that you mention it they are a d10 class with a ¾ BaB. Even with a full BaB still seems like the class is missing something.
The best thing to do with the Rage Prophet that I can think of is to have an undead rage prophet as the will get the most benefit out of ragecaster (undead use cha for their con and oracle is a cha class). They also can start and end a rage the same turn without any problems.
It is odd though now that you mention it they are a d10 class with a ¾ BaB. Even with a full BaB still seems like the class is missing something.
I think having their hit die one step higher is something of an unwritten Barbarian class feature, and the Rage Prophet inherits this feature as a reflection of their roots.
The best thing to do with the Rage Prophet that I can think of is to have an undead rage prophet as the will get the most benefit out of ragecaster (undead use cha for their con and oracle is a cha class). They also can start and end a rage the same turn without any problems.
It is odd though now that you mention it they are a d10 class with a ¾ BaB. Even with a full BaB still seems like the class is missing something.
Except your undead Rage prophet wouldnt recieve any stat bonuses for raging.
True but what you are making up for in raw spell DC makes up for it I think. 18 base cha, +6 headband, +5 wish/miracle/tome, +5 from leveling, looking at 34 cha at 20 and 33 at 16 and up, base spell dc 32/33, plus whatever undead you are. Could get 36 ish if you are a skeleton or vampire. At level 16 a Pit Fiend needing a 19+ will save for Inflict Light Wounds is not too shabby.